park outing Saturday

We had a lovely day Saturday.  The weather was perfecto.  We loaded the kids, minus Carter who was playing AirSoft wars with his friends at an old 1940's warehouse, and headed to the city.  Our city has a wonderful running and bike path along a river.  There are parks and trees to stop and enjoy along the way,a stunning view of the dowtown skyline, and a healthy sprinkling of homeless folks on park benches just to remind you to be grateful for what you have.
 Mike and Abby zoomed on ahead and rode to the downtown area.  I walked next to Hudson on his tricylce and Dillon on his bicycle.  We looked at ducks, the choo choo train and enjoyed the day.  Dillon beganing moving ahead.  Who could blame him?  Hudson was talking so much that he kept veering off the path and into grass, easily distracted and going slowly.  Dillon was getting way ahead and I started to get really nervous.  Soon, he was really far away and couldn't hear me yell at him.  I could see the little figure pedaling down the path.  Dilemna time.  With Hudson, I didn't know how to run and catch Dillon.  When Dillon is separated from me, I get really antsy.  Although he is nine, thanks to his articulation disorder, a stranger would never understand what he tells them about his name or his parents name.  Thanks to developmental delays, he doesn't know his phone number, birthday, or address, and thinks that when you have a "mergency" you call 991!!  So, you can understand my panic.  At a park bench next to the trail was a dad with his son.  They had bikes next to them and were taking a break, eating popcorn.  I stopped and said "Excuse me sir, this will sound weird, but my other son is way ahead and I need help getting him to turn around.  The man looked down the trail, looked at me, looked at his son's green and white flame painted dirt bike and said "Here, hop on my son's bike and go catch him."  And, my friends, that is just what I did!!  I left Hudson with the the man and kid, praying that they were decent folks while the book from my childhood swirled in my head--Don't Talk to Strangers.
 I zoomed down the bike trail on an 8yr old boy's dirt bike.  If I weren't afraid of something bad happening, I'd have laughed hysterically!  Dillon's face was too funny when he saw me.  He was like "What the heck is going on here and whose bike is that?"  We pedaled back to the helpful dad on the bench.  There was Hudson, true to form, yammering the poor dude's ear off and eating out of his bag of popcorn!!  The man said  "he does talk alot doesn't he?"  I profusely thanked this kind stranger.
About 20 minutes later we reunited with Mike.  He advised me not to tell other people, especially those mothers with only 1 kid or with only babies--they would freak out and think I'm an awful mom.  Hey, I confess, I have a bunch of kids and not all the answers ;)
The funniest thing was still to come.  A bit later, I was helping Hudson and Dillon play on the merry-go-round.  A stranger walked up and said "Excuse me ma'am, this may sound weird."  I braced myself for the inquisitive adoption question or comment.  Nope, that wasn't what she wanted.  She worked for a children's drug prevention program.  Every Saturday she goes to local parks and watches for parents "Caught being good."  She said that parents playing with their children was very helpful and she wanted to give us prizes.  The boys got games and cinch bags and I got a 30.00 gift certificate to Chili's!!!  SCORE baby.
To top it all off, we got to visit with our sweet friends Ryan and Jessica.  Aaaaannnd, drumroll, after 15 months of waiting for paperwork to clear, they will be bringing home the sibling group of 4 home from Ethiopia in 2 weeks!!!